June 24, 2010

The Morning Wrap

The "Tougher" Fight in Afghanistan: Now that Gen. Stanley McChrystal has been relieved of command, Gen. David Petraeus, who has been given control of the war in Afghanistan, faces a set of challenges unique to that country, The New York Times reports. Unlike in Iraq, where he was brought in to implement a new counterinsurgency strategy to turn the conflict around, Petraeus was instrumental in developing and executing the strategy in partnership with McChrystal, who carried it out on the ground. Now General Petraeus will be directly responsible for its success or failure, risking the reputation he built in Iraq.

CIA Hires What Used to Be Blackwater: The CIA has hired Xe Services, the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, to guard its facilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere, The Washington Post reports. The company reportedly received a contract worth about $100 million.

Catch and Release: The American who set off on a solo mission to hunt down Osama bin Laden in Pakistan is back in the United States, 10 days after authorities arrested him, The Associated Press reports. At the time, Gary Faulkner was armed with a pistol, a sword and night-vision equipment. But Faulkner said he isn't giving up on his mission yet. He told KNBC-TV shortly after his arrival, "I would describe the situation, like: I got dialysis. So anyone got a kidney they want to lend me so I can finish this up?"

Google Snags Win Over Viacom: A federal judge handed Google Inc. a major victory Wednesday by rebuffing Viacom Inc.'s attempt to collect more than $1 billion in damages for the alleged copyright abuses of Google's YouTube website. The Associated Press reports the ruling by Judge Louis Stanton in New York accepted Google's interpretation of a 12-year-old law that shields Internet services from claims of copyright infringement as long as they remove illegal content when notified of a violation.